Stephanie, I'm not a parent, but it sounds like a bad precedent to set with both the kids and with Joe.

I avoid missing any more time than necessary. We are only allowed to miss so many days of school and if we use them early there isn't any flexibility later. I have taken them out for family events, but then I worry about having days later.

He gets behind in Math and never recovers

Ellie is in the lowest reading group in her class. For whatever reason, it just hasn't clicked for her. I don't think she can afford a week off for this exact reason.

And yes, if she misses more than 10 days she is disenrolled. This would be 5 days plus 1 sick day from before, meaning she only has 4 days left. I just don't get it - it seems clear to me.

And yes, if she misses more than 10 days she is disenrolled. This would be 5 days plus 1 sick day from before, meaning she only has 4 days left. I just don't get it - it seems clear to me.

Yeah, it only takes one flu to eat up those four days.

And yes, if she misses more than 10 days

Yikes, that would be my answer right there. Also, we never were allowed to take time off from school unless it was for being sick or something, I don't know, like a funeral, I guess. It just wouldn't have occurred to my parents to do that, I don't think. I don't have kids, so I don't know what I would've done, though I imagine the same as my parents.

Except it more than 10 days=disenrollment, then, no just for that reason alone, frankly.

I never got out of school for anything short of chicken pox. School is a lot more intensive now than when I was a kid, at least that's the impression I get. Hard to believe missing a few days is not a big deal.

ION, I may buy all my relatives this useful little item for Christmas. And myself.

When I was in high school, parents would pull their kids out for vacation, but a lot of the teachers would send work with them, and there was no bullshit on the expectation that it would be done and turned in complete on their first day back. (I don't think it was a commensurate amount of work as if they had been in class all week, but it wasn't just a token, either.)

In elementary school, it wasn't ever something that came up. Since I don't have kids, I don't even know how much work gets covered in one week of elementary school -- would it be so much that Ellie would fall behind, like Emmett with math?

(So -- I don't really have an answer to your question; just more questions.)

As an example: Ellie is in first grade. Every night she has a math work sheet and she reviews her spelling words. Then we read a story (4x a week) and she writes three sentences about the story. Then, because she is having a hard time in reading, we read from her reading book - usually a story that she is reading in class. That's just her homework.

Apparently, it is against district policy to give out homework in advance. So, she would not only be a week behind when she got home, but she would have an entire week of work, plus homework, to catch up on. I suspect her teacher would be lax with much of the work, but that's about 35 hours of education that she's missing out on. eta: that is my roundabout way of saying yes, I think she really would fall behind.

She missed a week last year to go visit Joe while he was home from Iraq. I thought that was worth it. But there is nothing special with this trip - Joe's dad's birthday is around that week.

Unfortunately, Joe sent an email to Ellie's teacher asking if she could miss a week. I have no idea what he said because he didn't send me that part, but the teacher responded with "family is important" and offering to help Ellie catch up when she got back. I know she meant well, but I'm a little disappointed in her answer (although I know Joe well enough to imagine what sort of email he sent in the first place).

His insistence that Ellie go on this trip really caught me off guard because missing so much school when there is no special reason just seems so wrong to me. I wasn't sure if I was letting my emotions get in the way of making a fair decision.

We took time off for vacations like that.

but 20 years to find a doctor who thinks it is rational to test thyroid function by testing thyroid function.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. I thought the standard test for thyroid function is to test TSH. Often when you test the thyroid directly you get results in the normal range when in fact TSH is working way too hard to keep the thyroid functioning.

Andi will explain it more fully, but she has had a string of doctors who have dismissed her attempts to get them to actually diagnose her.

I am not a violent man, but I wouldn't mind slugging them all. At least twice, each.